Three days into summer vacation, Kyoya's personal phone incessantly played that upbeat song Tamaki had chosen for his ringtone on each of their phones. Kyoya groaned and looked up from his spreadsheet, losing patience with the interruption. Hanako and Kyoya had been enjoying the first few days of their school recess by getting a head start on the arrangements for the next term. Hanako experienced a significant drop in responsibilities during the holidays and was always able to help Kyoya finish more work, allowing him to catch up on some much needed rest. At nine in the morning, he had actually woken at a reasonable hour without any complaint and gotten straight to work after finishing his morning routine.
"What could he possibly want now?" Kyoya groaned as Hanako answered the phone and put it on speaker for both of them to listen to.
"She's gone! My beloved daughter has vanished off the face of the Earth!" Tamaki wailed so loudly that Hanako's hair flew back over her shoulder, and a few papers rustled on Kyoya's desk.
"You forgot to tell him, didn't you?" Hanako accused her employer with her hand muffling the microphone of the phone as Tamaki prattled on about criminal gypsies.
"I guess so," Kyoya paused in his typing. Hana shook her head and just held up the phone between the two of them as she leaned her hip against Kyoya's desk while he worked.
"Wait, slow down. You're not making any sense," she heard Hikaru groggily say over the conference call. "Now what?"
"Haruhi's gone missing!" Tamaki exclaimed before launching into another drawn out, preposterous theory about what could have caused her disappearance.
"What do you mean Haruhi's gone?!"
"Huh? So Haru-chan is really missing?" Mitsukuni's voice joined in.
"And her family is bankrupt," Takashi repeated skeptically.
"It's the only explanation!" Tamaki insisted over the phone, and Hanako just raised a questioning eyebrow at her employer. He raised his shoulder in a half-shrug, not quite concerned by Tamaki's overreaction. "I've been trying to get through to her home phone and her father's work for the past several days and no one will answer! They've been evicted and forced into indentured servitude! We have to rescue them!"
"Oh, Haru-chan!" Mitsukuni whimpered into the phone.
"Boss, please, not so loud," Kaoru whined at the shrill pitch Tamaki's voice had risen to. "Have you tried calling her cell phone yet?"
"We'll never get any work done if he keeps this up all summer," Hanako said to Kyoya quietly, holding the phone away and still muffling the microphone while Tamaki processed the fact that Haruhi owned a cell phone. Kyoya sighed heavily and held his hand out for the phone.
She passed it over to him, and he pinched the bridge of his nose before speaking, "Not to interrupt your delusion, but Haruhi is currently in Karuizawa."
"Haruhi was turned out of her home, kidnapped by gypsies, and forced into servitude in Karuizawa?" Hana and Kyoya shared and exasperated look at his thickheadedness.
"Moron. Haruhi is enjoying her vacation in Karuizawa," Kyoya elaborated and switched the phone off the speaker so that they could finish the conversation. Hanako waited patiently for the hosts to decide on what they would do, but a part of her already knew what they were going to do. "Okay, then, I'll see you all there."
Kyoya snapped the phone shut, and the two of them lapsed into a heavy silence as Hanako acknowledged that they were going to follow Haruhi to Karuizawa. She worked the skin of her lower lip between her teeth thoughtfully. Kyoya turned to face her fully, watching her consider her options as she faced the possibility of going to Karuizawa. "You don't have to come with us," he told her.
Hana shook her head leisurely, as if she was turning away a steak that wasn't prepared to her liking, "No, it's too great of a risk to let you go there without my protection." She understood his reservations, but she disagreed. Kyoya's safety would always be her first priority, and if he was traveling, that was all the more reason for her to accompany him.
"You truly don't have to go," Kyoya pressed more insistently. He genuinely did not want her to go. For all of its charm, the stillness of Karuizawa's atmosphere never settled well with Kyoya. Where others saw peace and tranquility, he sensed forboding. There were eyes everywhere in that place, and the last thing they needed was any trouble that could have been avoided. She felt a twinge of annoyance at his mothering. He may have always been the mother of their little family, but he had never directed that attitude towards her. Ever since the incident with Komatsuzawa, Kyoya had been liberal in his disregard for her role as his security detail. He treated her more and more like a personal assistant or peer and less like his hired body guard.
"I'll have transportation prepared," she stated, ignoring him pointedly. She refused to tolerate his coddling any longer. He had another protest on the tip of his tongue, but she silenced him with a fierce glare. Her caramel hued gaze burned into him, "I won't hear another word of it, Kyoya. I'm going with you." Kyoya didn't argue with her on it further, despite his deep frowning, and they packed their bags for a short term getaway.
They left the mansion by helicopter and took a car into town from the cottage. The last time she had been in Karuizawa, her mother had been the one to bring her. It had been a joint trip with Yuzuha and the twins when they were eight, and Hanako had spent the majority of the time at the cottage with the Hitachiins while her mother conducted some sort of family business. A sour taste came into Hana's mouth as she recalled why they had needed the Hitachiins during that trip. Their families didn't all own property in Karuizawa for nothing, after all. Akina had convinced them to buy.
She inhaled deeply and watched the scenery pass outside the window, enjoying the serenity of the neighborhood. Karuizawa was a beautiful place to be, clean and relaxing, and it hadn't changed very much over the years. It was a shame, really, that such a lovely atmosphere could be tainted so easily. When Tachibana pulled up to the pension, they could all tell from the mess that Tamaki had already arrived, and Hana noted suspiciously that the others had all arrived before they did. Hana's gaze slid to Kyoya critically as Tachibana came around to open the door for them. He ignored her suspicious scrutiny as they joined their friends. Annoyed, Hanako broke away from Kyoya's side and helped Haruhi pick up scattered white sheets from the green lawn.
"Sorry about the intrusion." Hanako's apology was the first that Haruhi heard from any of the unannounced guests. The first year student felt some of her irritation melt away now that her senior was with her. Hanako was as much of a saving grace for Haruhi as the younger girl had been for Hana, and this, she knew, was going to be one of the times that Haruhi needed someone to vent to about their inconsiderate clubmates.
"I guess I shouldn't even be surprised anymore." Haruhi sighed and turned to the group of boys.
"Why don't we all go inside?" Kyoya suggested lightly, scanning the area with overt nonchalance. The club members did as he said and filed into the pension, and none of them seemed to care about the way Kyoya's eyes swept back over the yard behind them.
The pension was a charming cottage with clean white paint on the exterior and a sweet smelling garden by the front porch. What it lacked in flair, it made up for in simple beauty, and Hanako felt quite comfortable in Misuzu's establishment. The little bell above the door rang prettily as they entered, and the hosts immediately made themselves at home.
"Haruhi, are you done outside? Can you make the beds in room…" The innkeeper trailed off as he looked up from wiping tables to find the club members in his lobby. "Oh, my! What dashing young men you are! These hunks must belong to Haruhi!" Misuzu fawned over the new arrivals. Tamaki, Hikaru, Kaoru, and Mitsukuni found their way to the bar, caught off guard by Misuzu's identity. Clicking her tongue, Hanako walked down the line of boys, snapping their jaws closed while Misuzu's back was turned.
"Don't be rude," she scolded them with a huff. Misuzu was a bright and energetic with high spirits that matched the warm colored, inviting pension perfectly.
"He's an old friend of Ranka's," Kyoya supplied after Misuzu introduced himself to them. "They used to work together at the same shop years ago." Hana drifted back to Kyoya's side once she was satisfied that her companions had gotten over themselves and remembered their manners.
"Well, naturally, you would know," Tamaki pointedly responded to his best friend.
"Kill me," Haruhi grumbled to Hanako. Hana's junior made an interesting picture. Despite her unenthused expression, Haruhi looked quite cute in the frilly yellow apron and matching scarf. Hanako smiled at the other girl with a sympathetic understanding of Haruhi's plight, aware that Haruhi was less bothered by the hosts than she let on. Her snide remarks were far from rare, but the sincerity behind them had waned over time.
"You know you love them." Hanako's smile widened in response to the half-hearted scowl that Haruhi threw over her shoulder at her senpai.
"Not when they're stalking me," Haruhi retorted dryly. "How did you guys find me, anyway?" Her suspicious chocolate eyes turned on Hana fully as Misuzu happily relayed his joy in his work.
The taller girl just shrugged. "I spoke with your father before the summer recess began."
"You could have just asked, senpai."
Hana acknowledged that Haruhi meant what she said. Haruhi welcomed contact from Hanako, and they had shared brief texts sparingly over the past few months. Honestly, the Host Club had grown on Haruhi, and she didn't find them to be as much of a bother as when she started. They were friends, now. Clingy, separation-anxious friends, but friends nonetheless. "I'll keep that in mind."
"This also happens to be Ranka's preferred method for keeping track of his daughter while he's busy working," Kyoya was saying when Hana's attention went back to the larger conversation at hand.
Almost immediately, Tamaki was toe to toe with Kyoya, his eyes narrowed suspiciously and vein pulsing at his forehead from the annoyance, "What the…? How do you know all of this stuff?" The shadow king just pushed up his glasses and turned away with a smug smirk.
"Kill me," Haruhi repeated, gloomier than before.
This time, Hana chuckled and shook her head. "Before your debt's paid off?"
"You sound like a tax collector," Haruhi grumbled before she was pulled away by the shoulders from Hana's side. The model stifled her laughter as Haruhi listlessly allowed Misuzu to rock her shoulders as he retold the story of Haruhi's summer employment.
"Take my little girl under your wing, he says. He practically begged me. And since I still can't afford the expense of hired help, it works out for everyone! She's a model employee, really. It's such a shame I can't pay her anything."
"I thought we came here for Tamaki," Hana commented as Kyoya scribbled some notes in his pocket-sized booklet. She didn't attempt to read anything that he was writing, but she figured that it would be something to do with Haruhi's lack of pay or Misuzu's praise of the girl's work ethic.
"We did," he answered easily, "but it's the perfect opportunity to learn a little bit more about Haruhi, don't you agree?" A slight frown tugged on the corners of Hana's elegant lips, but she didn't have any words to say in response to his rhetorical question. They didn't have to go to Karuizawa to know about Haruhi's work ethic, and Kyoya knew full well the school's policy on unapproved student employment. Perhaps his interest in their honor student ran deeper than she initially understood.
"You know what, why don't you have some tea outside while we get those sheets back up?" Misuzu suggested, and before they could protest, he was bounding to the lawn, scooping up the linens as he did. The hosts all followed, ever the perfect young gentlemen, and Kyoya raised a challenging brow at Hana, questioning her conviction. Would she join them outside?
If she came this far, she wasn't going to be left outside like before. She tossed her curtain of inky black hair over her shoulder and followed them outside, if for no other reason than to convince him that she was right about her decision to go to that place.
{OR}
Misuzu served them a Western brew, complete with sliced lemons, cream, and sugar cubes in simple, porcelain tableware. Naturally, Hanako took the tray from Misuzu and encouraged the hotelier to go ahead and focus on his other responsibilities, earning her a delighted compliment about her good manners. She went around the table, filling the shallow white teacups as they caught up with Haruhi.
"A job, huh?" Kaoru started them off.
"I don't get it, you turned down our invitation to Bali for this?" Hikaru asked haughtily.
Hana carried the teapot to the second table and poured a cup for Kyoya. Pension Misuzu was certainly a rural oasis with all the charm and service of a small business and pleasantly secluded in Karuizawa. That didn't stop Hanako from checking their surroundings every few seconds for suspicious activity. Kyoya raised his cup to his lips, watching her from over the rim and noticing how her caramel colored eyes flickered from place to place every so often. Her posture didn't give her away quite as badly, but her shifting weight from leg to leg certainly wasn't as casual as she wanted to play it off as.
"You're clearly uncomfortable," he remarked, paying no heed to Tamaki who had emerged from his moping in the shrubbery. "Why don't you just go back to the cottage? Honestly, I don't know why you decided to tag along in the first place."
"I'm not going, Kyoya. Leaving you here alone would defeat the purpose of my being here."
"Impossible woman," he frowned and regarded her with open annoyance, allowing her to see clearly how displeased he was with her insistence. Hana frowned right back at him. She didn't have to justify herself for doing her job properly. Kyoya's safety was the priority, and he needed to understand how important it was to her that he recognized that.
She wasn't an idiot. There was a reason why she and Kyoya never went to the cottage, but if he was going to Karuizawa, then she was going to go with him. It was that simple. While she appreciated what the hosts had done for her regarding Komatsuzawa, it had only proven to her the suspicions she had been harboring since the beginning of the school year. The hosts still considered her a peer; someone who they had to go out of their way for. She loved them all dearly, but the lengths they would go to for her bordered inappropriate. Besides, nobody knew that they were in Karuizawa. There was nothing for them to worry about.
"Why are you even here?" Haruhi's question caused both Hana and Kyoya to look back at the other table and forget their recurring disagreement. "I'm gonna have to see you guys every day when the new term starts. Don't I have the right to spend my summer vacation the way I want to?"
Kyoya ran his finger over the pages of his pocket sized Ouran Student Handbook, "According to the handbook, jobs are prohibited." Haruhi blanched with this new information that the Shadow King could lord over her while Hanako rolled her eyes at their alacrity to take advantage of the situation. There were exceptions to the rule, of course, with proper documentation and strings could be pulled if needed, but most students didn't bother reading the actual passage. It seemed that Haruhi fell into the majority.
"I, uh… had no idea."
"Hey, did you hear?" Hikaru stage whispered to his brother. "Haruhi went and got a job without the school's permission."
Hanako's attention suddenly jumped to her own personal space when the weight of her jacket shifted on her back. Her heart sped. Her chest tightened. Then, she relaxed, realizing that it was just Takashi standing close behind her and sliding the rolled up visitor's guide out from her back pocket. His nimbus dark eyes caught hers as he turned to show Mitsukuni the book, and she shamefully looked away, feeling as though she was caught.
Kyoya's chair pushed against grass and dirt as he joined the cousins and Hanako, standing on her other side as they flipped through the booklet. "I think Karuizawa is way better than Switzerland anyway," Mitsukuni declared, ignoring the heated looks exchanged between the two dark haired hosts over Hanako's head.
"Mm." The intensity between the two onyx-eyed men disippated at the oldest host's comment.
"And overseas travel is so exhausting," Kyoya agreed.
"Of course, you do have the right to spend your vacation as you please. But then again, like it or not, so do we. And you know, I for one find Pension Misuzu to be exceptionally charming." Tamaki's input illicited a loud, drawn-out protest from Haruhi, but the blond was already lost to a starry-eyed fantasy. They made quite the contrast, Hanako thought as she looked upon the prince and the pauper. His absolute ease and giddiness cast a bright light on her absolute horror. A demure laugh escaped from Hana's slightly parted lips.
Beside her, Mitsukuni looked up at his long-time friend with concern. Nobody mentioned it in all of the excitement, but there was something more thought provoking than Haruhi's summer job. Truthfully, he wasn't surprised by Takashi's particularly heated glares in Kyoya's direction today. Mitsukuni wasn't quite sure what was happening, himself. "Hey, Hana-chan," he interrupted her quiet observation. "Is it a good idea for you to be here?"
Hana's easy smile tightened, and the elephant in the room started to wake. "There's nothing to worry about," she answered languidly. Just behind her, Takashi and Kyoya shared another look. This time, one of shared concern and exasperation, both skeptical of her dismissive demeanor in the face of what could be a great beast beyond their little kingdom's depth.
Mitsukuni responded differently than the two and beamed at Hana with his usual cheerfulness, "If you say so!"
Hana's expression relaxed, and she quickly redirected the course of the conversation. "Why don't we go ask Misuzu-san about some rooms for the night?"
She called the inn keeper to join them and voiced the request to Ranka's friend while the twins and Tamaki started a debate about who would have the room closest to Haruhi's. "I'm so sorry, boys! I'd love to have you all as guests, but I'm afraid there's only one vacant room left."
Tamaki immediately forgot about his rivals and jumped at the opportunity to ditch the other men, "Only one room, you say. Well, that settles it. I'll have to stay and represent the club."
"Hey! That isn't fair!" Mitsukuni rebuked their president with his fat tears and Usa-chan in his arms.
"Have you no feeling of loyalty? Of any solidarity, boss?"
"Togetherness is our guiding principle."
Hana and Kyoya watched her godbrothers on their hands and knees, throwing Tamaki's virtues back in his face. "You know, he has this coming," Kyoya remarked before taking a sip of his tea as Tamaki lamented the situation. Hana hummed in agreement and flipped through the forgotten visitor's guide book.
"Why not hold a little competition?" Hana's divided attention caught Hikaru propose.
"Call it the guest-relations-odd-jobs contest at Pension Misuzu," Kaoru tacked on one of those silly names that Tamaki could never resist.
"Is there anything in Karuizawa that you'd like to see?" Hana asked Kyoya casually as the brothers went over the rules of what would undoubtedly become another stupid game. Hikaru's brain child for sure.
Kyoya lowered his teacup, "It'd be a bad idea to leave these idiots alone, and it'd be less trouble if we just stayed at the pension and enjoyed the atmosphere." She smiled through the subtle bite in his words. Clearly, there was nothing that she could do or say to make the most of the situation. He was determined to remind her of it every chance he had. He lifted his cup again and said, "Since we're just going to be staying here, you should go help the others out."
Hana spared a glance over Kyoya's shoulder at the excitement taking place in the open lawn now that they had decided on the terms of the competition. Unimpressed, she looked back at him with a stern arch in her brow.
"I'll just be out here, enjoying the weather," he assured her. "Even though we're not competing, it would be nice to do our part. There's nothing to worry about, right?"
His sharp, challenging gaze pierced through her, and she frowned deeply. "Right," she agreed relentlessly, rising to follow Misuzu into the inn. "Misuzu-san," Hana called at the innkeeper's back, "is there anything that I can help with?"
Misuzu pressed a finger to his cheek thoughtfully, "Oh, I know! I could use your help waitresing in the dining room. Come with me, I'll get you an apron, and you can tell me what your skin care routine is!" Misuzu steered Hana into the kitchen. The younger girl pinned her smile to her face as Misuzu outlined his favorite products for her. In her own head, Hana picked at Kyoya's passively aggressive counter to her insistence. He would keep her in the safety of the inn, on the grounds of Misuzu's property, and maintain as low of a profile as possible.
Well played, Kyoya, she thought with simmering displeasure as Misuzu dug through the rustic cabinets for a spare apron.
{OR}
Hana's task proved to be much less taxing than the boys' assignments. The pension saw a steady trickle of guests through the open hall, but it felt far more relaxed than the Host Club's usual high volume of guests. The more orders she took, the better her memory of Misuzu's current menu. She easily stepped into the role of hostess and waitress, but not every clubmate took to manual labor so well. Just outside, Hana could glimpse Misuzu scolding the club's blonds by the white fence.
Misuzu's managerial energy buzzed through the inn. He never seemed to miss anything that they did despite how scattered the boys were through the floor. Hikaru and Kaoru had a much more fitting task at the front desk. Hana passed their temporary supervisor just as the twins led two new guests to their room. "Fine, fine. Not exactly subtle, but they do get the job done," Misuzu remarked. "So, five refresher points for them."
"They're actually hard workers when they have something to gain," Hanako voiced.
"Is that so?" Misuzu turned and spotted another host out of the corner of his eye, "Ah, Mori." Hana turned, too, and found that his blank stare seemed to be directed at her head. She patted down the ruffled cap on her hair that Misuzu insisted she wear because it matched the frilly, periwinkle apron. It wasn't her style. It better suited girls like Renge and Haruhi, but Hana wasn't one to feel insecure about her clothes. She had completely forgot about it until she noticed Takashi's gaze.
"The legs on this table are wobbly," Misuzu continued. "Would you be a dear and fix it out back, please?"
It was almost as if Takashi expected something like this to happen that day. The sleeveless tank he wore put his arms on full display as he lifted the piece of furniture over his shoulder effortlessly. Misuzu giggled beside Hana, "Nothing wasted in word or deed! Five refresher points!" The temporary waitress drifted away from Misuzu to tend to the new guests finding seats in the dining room.
"There sure are a lot of handsome young men at this pension," one of the girls that Hikaru and Kaoru herded away earlier commented as Hana approached the table.
"All of the boys you see are friends of one of the employees here," Hanako informed the girls with a hospitable smile. The girls stared at her with wide eyes and their mouths in little 'o' shapes. The waitress that came to their table looked like she stepped out of a fairy tale. A pretty white cap covered the crown of her head, and her shiny black hair fell loosely down her back. Her skin was clear and even, and her eyes regarded them warmly. They felt as if they were melting into pools of smooth caramel.
"That's so thoughtful and sweet," the girl's companion said breezily, drawn into the comfort of Hana's languid aura.
"Have you come to a decision, ladies? Our specials today are the crème brulee and a summer fruit tart."
"We'll take one of each," the girls decided in unison, entranced by Hana's smile. Hana returned to the kitchen and prepared a tray. By muscle memory, she cut a perfectly measured slice from the tart and plated it with care. She prepared another cup of tea for Kyoya, anticipating that he would be ready for another brew by that time of day. Hana moved effortlessly through the kitchen, becoming more familiar with the new space. A string of low chuckles sounded across the counter while she continued on to preparing the custard.
"You're surprisingly good at this," Misuzu leaned onto the counter with both elbows.
"I tend to fulfill similar tasks during our club activities."
"Are you sure you don't want to join in on the fun?" the inn keeper teased. "I think you could give those boys a run for their money."
Hana laughed graciously at the compliment. "I'm afraid Kyoya-sama and I have other arrangements."
"Hmm? Oh, is that why he isn't playing? I suppose that makes sense." Misuzu nodded seriously while connecting the dots. Finally, a whimsical sigh left him. "You know, I could make some recommendations if you two lovebirds want to get into town. Ah, it's the perfect time for romance in Karuizawa!"
Hanako startled, and the kitchen torch in her hand sputtered blue flames. Collecting herself, she corrected the romantic, "You misunderstand. It's not like that." A treacherous memory the sweep of his tongue along her lower lip, encouraging to part her mouth for his exploration flashed in her mind. The teapot behind her shrieked.
The model eagerly turned to the next task of preparing tea for her employer and took the opportunity to quickly clear her head. "No?" Misuzu's knowing gaze never left the girl. Misuzu had a teenager himself and knew how to read those too quick protests. It was the only display from Hanako that gave away her youth in the short time they had spent together.
Misuzu felt a kind of sympathy for the girl. He followed the news, of course, and when the story of the Negida family broke, he could tell that the little girl in those pictures on magazine covers would go through something long and horrid. He could see how much it aged her, whatever it was she went through, but the fleeting evidence that there was a teenager, a child, in there came as a relief.
"Kyoya-sama is my employer," Hanako elaborated with the same smile she offered the girls in the dining hall. "Our relationship is strictly platonic." She punctuated the sentence with a delicate chuckle before leaving with a large tray.
Hana delivered the guests' orders first, and when the tray was lighter, she brought the tea out to Kyoya. True to his word, Kyoya had spent the majority of the day sitting outside, but once everyone scattered, he settled in to one of the tables on the back porch. He looked content by himself, enjoying the peace of Karuizawa while the rest of them kept busy. He didn't bother looking up from his book when Hana set the tray on the table and placed the tableware before him.
"How's it going in there?" he asked, picking up the cup of rooibos that she just finished pouring.
"I'm enjoying myself, but I can't shake this feeling that the others are bound to cause some trouble soon."
He stared into his cup thoughtfully, as if he was both appreciating the brew and considering something else at the same time. "Just the others?" he repeated with a curiosity that hinted at an accusation. Before Hanako could retaliate at her employer, Haruhi took notice of the two, and Kyoya acknowledged her with a hum.
"Kyoya-senpai," Haruhi greeted as she approached them. "You're keeping your distance from all this."
"Of course. Winning means I'd end up staying here alone, which frankly doesn't appeal to me. I'll just sit back and watch things unfold, then head to the cottage." He had everything figured out. There were two places in Karuizawa that he allowed them to be at. The cottage and the pension, and there would be no detours. He wasn't taking any chances, and he hadn't even wanted to go on this silly trip in the first place.
"The cottage? You mean your family's?"
"That's right. We all have on in the area," he explained to the honor student. Haruhi's face fell as she realized they had options readily available. "So who's your favorite to win? There must be someone you have in mind," his not so subtle efforts to probe Haruhi's brain succeeded in changing the topic. "Do you care to bet?"
Haruhi scoffed, "No thanks. I don't have a clue."
"Really? It's easy enough to tell at a glance. Honey-senpai's brand of cute doesn't quite fit Misuzu's notion of refreshing, so I'm afraid he's out. Tamaki comes a little closer to the ideal, provided he keeps his mouth shut. But we all know the likelihood of that. Ordinarily, you'd figure Hikaru and Kaoru, and they're Hana's favorite team, of course."
The sound of splitting wood sounded, and Hana looked towards the sudden noise.
"Then, again, seems we have a dark horse."
Takashi had shed the striped shirt completely. A sheen of sweat glistened across the planes of his chest and back, and his muscles flexed as he swung the axe down onto another log of wood. The host turned to wipe the sweat from his brow, and when he did, he caught Hanako's eyes on him from just behind Kyoya. Takashi didn't shy away from her gaze. Instead, he held on to it with his own captivating dark stare as he stooped down to pick up his water bottle. Without looking, he twisted off the cap and slowly lifted the bottle to his lips. Only then did he break eye contact with his ex-fiancee.
Kyoya's smile turned harsh, and he hid it quickly before Haruhi turned to face him. "So then you think he's the one?"
"Except that if Honey-senpai drops out, Mori-senpai is bound to go along with him. His competing in the game at all is more or less conditional to that." Kyoya said it certainly, but doubt pulled on Hana's mind. Takashi was more independent than they all gave him credit for. Her gaze slipped to Haruhi, and she considered if Takashi had a stake in the game after all.
"Which means," Hikaru piped up nearby.
"Victory will be ours," Kaoru finished for his twin.
"Well, maybe not. I couldn't help but notice that the only room still available is a single bed," Haruhi pointed out. "So if you did win, you couldn't both stay."
Hikaru turned his head towards them, "No big deal. We can just bring another bed over from the cottage."
"Yeah, or we could even squeeze into the single." A memory of winter nights in their shared chalet warmed Hana's heart. Those vacations when they were children, the three of them snuggled up on a bed while their mothers sipped hot chocolate on either side of the three.
"How sweet," Haruhi commented sincerely. "I guess you guys really are always together."
"Always," Kaoru confirmed with a soft look in his eyes. A pang of sorrow in Hana's chest dispersed the warmth from their childhood memories.
"The two of us have been together since we were born, so we haven't ever needed anybody else."
"We never bothered making other friends until a few years ago. We thought the world was made up of idiots." The admission from Kaoru broke Hana's heart all over again as she was reminded of the way they isolated themselves for so long. There was nothing worse, she realized, than the knowledge that you contributed to the pain of the people you love more than anything in the world.
"Oh, really?" Haruhi glanced at the other girl present and was surprised to find that her expression mimicked the brothers' bittersweet faces perfectly despite their drastically different features. "What about Hana-senpai?"
The twins looked at her with blatant confusion, as if she had just said something completely nonsensical. "Hana's family, she doesn't count," they said it factually and in unison. It was non-debatable, and there wasn't any complaint on Hanako or Kyoya's parts. What they said was as true as any other fundamental truth to the universe.
"Hana and her mom were there when we were born," Kaoru told Haruhi, who tried to imagine what a one year old Hanako looked like meeting the newborn twins for the first time.
"The three of us are stuck together whether we want to be or not," Hikaru added.
"We were happy with just us and big sis."
"But then. Well, that was before we knew you. We'd totally let you sleep with us." Hanako gagged automatically as soon as the words reached her ears, and she expected to hear something just as unnecessary from Kaoru. The echo never came. Hana's attention flickered to her younger godbrother, and she was surprised by the pensive look on his face.
"The contest isn't quite decided yet," Kyoya reminded the brothers. "There are still a number of ways to make this game more interesting. "
Some of the luster seemed to come back into Kaoru's eye, and he pushed himself up from the railing, like a cat stretching after a nap. "Oh yeah? Thinking about helping the boss, are you?"
"We're not going to lose. It's no use."
Hana's employer just smiled mildly and shrugged in response. Playfulness seemed to spawn from their determination to win, and they wound themselves around Haruhi. Hana smiled indulgently at them, loving them for their enthusiasm but unable to shake the feeling that something was wrong between them. Something new and delicate, but she had other things weighing in on her mind.
{OR}
Hana continued to work in the dining room. By the afternoon, they had checked in all of their guests for the day, and more open tables were left than occupied ones. The body guard was sweeping up the floor when Tamaki strode in like a man under a spell. She heard the doors open from the back and watched him cross the floor to the marvelous ivory grand piano bathing in white light. A smile found its way to her face, and she turned to Misuzu, "You better go into the kitchen and get ready."
The guests poured into the dining hall like a dam had broken. Classically trained and naturally gifted, Tamaki's playing drew more guests into the inn within the hour than the others had attracted all day. Hanako traveled from table to table as the dining hall filled up. She needed a pad and pencil to keep track of the orders, and they were sold out of specialty pastries by sundown. It was such a spectacular place to be. The handsome musician played the piano like he was a man in love, and the beautiful waitress smiled at you like you were the only person in the world. Even Misuzu was enchanted by the scene.
Takashi had become something of a maintenance man during the day, and he paused in his work at Misuzu's bar to look at the room full of people. Tamaki and Hanako were completely engrossed in what they were doing. Hana really did smile at every person she stopped for in a way that made them feel like the center of all things, but Takashi knew that there was a way she smiled at them, the members of the Host Club, that put that hosting smile to shame. It was the way that they could see how deep her love for them ran; like there was nothing in the world that could stop her from loving them. She enjoyed waitressing, but he knew that she would never admit it. She seemed to enjoy it as much as Tamaki enjoyed playing the piano, and it was fitting for her. When she brought out teacups and saucers to these people, Takashi could see more of the person she used to be.
The rush worsened as evening came, and the pension was busier than the host club tended to be. Hanako was at a table, taking an order for a couple that didn't seem to be that much older than the Ouran students. The woman smiled in return of Hanako's greeting, but the way the man stared set Takashi's senses on alert. It could have been nothing, or it could have been what they feared from the start of the day.
Crash.
The cacophany of glass shattering broke the daydream that Hanako and Tamaki created in the dining room. Tamaki played a discordant note, and Hanako's body stiffened at the sound of Kaoru's voice calling out. The pen and wad of paper fell from her hand, and she ran out of the room towards the noise. In the confusion, nobody but Takashi noticed the way that the young man wearing a green collared shirt watched her disappear through the closest door.
Warm summer air filled her lungs, trying to choke her from the inside out as her head whipped from side to side in search of what caused the noise. Her heart thundered wildly in her chest, anxious and expecting the worst. She needed to know what caused the crash. She needed to know where Kaoru was. She ran around the corner and collided with someone's chest. An arm wrapped around her waist to steady her, and a hand came onto her shoulder. The familiar fragrance of Kyoya's mint body wash cleansed her lungs and calmed her panic.
"Are you hurt?" she asked immediately, pulling back from his embrace to run a critical gaze over his form. "What happened?"
"I'm alright," his assurance came out unhurriedly, soothing her with the calm in his voice. "The sound came from the back of the inn." Her eyes searched his for any sign that this was a ploy to get her to go home. She found that it wasn't, and then Misuzu's voice echoed from the rooftop.
"Bravo! Bravo! One-hundred points for refreshing brotherly love!"
Hana sighed heavily, the tension leaving her body in that breath, and she looked back at Kyoya, whose stance reflected what little interest he invested into the competition now that it was over. "Well, it looks like that's over. Shall we go inside? I'm sure Tamaki's turned to dust by now."
She followed Kyoya's lead back to the door she burst out from. Kyoya crossed his arms in front of him and leaned against the wall, waiting for Tamaki to come to from his fried state at the bench. "Wasn't that fun?" Mitsukuni asked, skipping up to join them. "Is Tama-chan okay?"
At that moment the twins paraded across the floor victoriously, cheering as they passed Tamaki with their hands locked between them. It would have been an expected and normal sight for them, but the moment Kaoru caught Hana's eye, his expression shifted slightly. A flicker of worry passed over his features. Then, she noticed the tremor in their joined hands and the long pink line on Kaoru's cheek..
Hana convinced Kyoya to go back to the cottage without waiting on her. She insisted that he had to take Tamaki home or their president would sleep at the piano like that all night. More importantly, her brothers needed her. She promised that she would go straight home from the pension as soon as she was sure that the twins were all right. He finally relented after she pointed out that nothing had happened all day, and as soon as Tachibana's car pulled away from the inn, Hana retrieved Misuzu's first aid kit and made her way to the Hitachiins' room.
She knocked on the unremarkable door and waited.
It was Kaoru's voice that called back to her. "Now isn't a good time."
"It's me."
There was a pause before Kaoru answered, "The door's unlocked." Hana turned the doorknob and let herself into the guest room. The entire room was bathed with golden light that turned the brothers' hair to flame and made her irises seem molten as she approached. The brothers sat side by side on the edge of the bed. Their hands laid between them, but it was clear, now, that Hikaru clutched Kaoru's tightly in his. The older twin hung his head, and his shoulders trembled terribly. Hana's gaze passed to his brother, who met her with a tired look over his brother's head.
"I brought a first aid kit for your cut," she told him, her expression gentle and understanding despite the space between them.
"Thanks," Kaoru answered as she started to clean the thin trail of blood.
"We've got to be more careful about our faces or else your mom's never gonna let us out of the house again," she smiled weakly, trying to make light of the tension in the room. "It's not deep, and it isn't bleeding anymore." Her concern shifted between the brothers as she placed a bandaid over Kaoru's cut. Hikaru hadn't said a word or moved the entire time, and the intensity of his grief seeped into her bones while the look of helplessness on Kaoru's face weighed on her shoulders.
She turned her body to Hikaru, crouching in front of them like a mother in front of her own children, "Are you alright?" She paused for an answer that never came. "It's a good thing that Kaoru was there to push Haruhi out of the way, or someone could have been seriously hurt."
She stopped and waited for him to at least acknowledge her, and when he didn't, Hana shared a meaningful look with Kaoru over Hikaru's lowered head. They shared their concern for their middle sibling, and in the moment they shared, Hanako entrusted Hikaru's care to his twin, the only person in the world who could really help him. She rose to her feet and placed her hand on the back of Hikaru's head. She ruffled the soft mess of hair on his head gently, like her mother used to when she comforted the boys.
"I'm going to be at the Ootori cottage if you need anything. Don't hesitate to call me, okay?" she directed the question at Kaoru, who nodded from his place beside Hikaru. At the door, she looked back at them, and she thought about how small they always seemed to her. Ever since they were children, they always seemed younger than they were, and maybe that was why she had wanted so badly to keep them safe. "I love you, guys," she said before slipping through the door.
When she was gone, Kaoru sighed and nudged Hikaru's shoulder with his, "Now we've gone and worried Hana-nee."
The sun hung low in the sky by the time Hanako was ready to leave the pension. She had barely stepped off Misuzu's property when her plan to call Tachibana and wait with Haruhi was disrupted. One of the guests from earlier seemed to be waiting at the fence, the young man whose girlfriend wanted to hear Tamaki's music. When he saw her step out from the door, he waved, "Hey there! I was here earlier with my fiancee and noticed you serving tea. I thought you looked familiar, and I couldn't quite place what it was at the time."
Hanako didn't spare him anything other than her annoyance. She wasn't in the mood for a repeat of the beach incident, and Kyoya wouldn't take kindly to any delays.
"You look just like my employers' late daughter, Akina Matsura."
Hana's blood ran cold. This was the worst case scenario, and it was exactly what Kyoya anticipated happening if she came to Karuizawa. She had been arrogant and careless, but that didn't matter. The Matsuras were one of the oldest families in Japan, but they didn't have employees that could intimidate her. She told Kyoya that she could handle being there, and now she had to prove it. "I told them about you," the Matsuras' employee continued, "and I've been instructed to invite you to their headquarters in town."
Hanako frowned and steeled herself against the ice in her veins, "I have to decline. Send my grandparents my best." She tried to step around him to pass through the open gate, but he moved with her and blocked the path. He smiled at her as if he was trying to be hospitable, but it came off as menacing because Hana knew fully well that he wouldn't let her go until his bosses got what they wanted. "Get out of my way."
"I'm afraid the family is insisting." His hand shot out and grabbed her wrist firmly, guarenteeing that he wouldn't let her go now that they found her. Her face contorted into a sneer. She could break his arm for that. The Matsuras were world leaders in hospitality and service, an old and strong bloodline from Japanese landowners and nobles. They didn't look for physical strength in their employees.
A larger hand wrapped around the offending arm and squeezed until the Matsura's man let go of Hana's wrist with a yelp. "Is there a problem here?" Takashi's voice rumbled deep in his chest, dangerously low. He glowered at the shorter man, who cowed and simpered through his smile.
"No, not at all," he answered fearfully.
Takashi turned to Hanako for her confirmation. The girl nodded, "It was a misunderstanding." Still skeptical, he released the limb from his grasp, and the man massaged his forearm while the two raven haired teenagers watched him with disdain, both eager for him to get out of their sight.
"I'm sorry. I must have been mistaken," the apology was followed by a tight lipped smile, and the Matsura's employee left them in peace. Hana watched his back as he walked away from the inn, knowing that he would be out of a job as soon as he told his employers about his failure.
"Where's Kyoya?" Takashi's question brought Hana's attention back to him, and she could see from the roiling storm in his eyes that he was still seething from the encounter he witnessed.
"My team already escorted him back to the cottage. Where's Mitsukuni?" she asked as casually as possible. He didn't need to know about the way her blood turned to ice at the name Matsura. She could have gotten out of that mess by herself. There hadn't been any reason for him to intervene. Nobody even needed to know that they found her.
Takashi nodded in the direction of the last remaining car parked in front of the pension, far more luxurious than any other vehicles on the road. "Let's go." The way he said it left her no room to refuse, and in all honesty, there was no better option. Better to take a ride to the cottage with the cousins than to wait like a sitting duck.
Takashi opened the door for her himself, and she muttered her thanks before climbing in and settling onto the unoccupied leather seat that let her face the judo champion when he joined. Takashi crossed his arms across his chest, and she felt his gaze burning into her with stern judgment. She averted her own line of sight to Mitsukuni, who was seated on the far side of the interior, resting his head on the window while he slept.
She wanted to ignore him, but he made it so hard with the attention he trained on her. It was like being under a microscope. Every turn of her head, every shift of her muscle, every blink and breath… "Don't look at me like that," she finally relented and acknowledged the patient host. "I didn't need you to do that."
"You shouldn't have come here," he scolded her. "What were you thinking? You decided to waltz up to the Matsura family's stronghold with nothing but the six of us and three of your men. No matter how you look at it those are bad odds. Reckless."
Her angry eyes snapped to his face, indignant at his tone of voice. She heard it enough times from Kyoya. She knew that she shouldn't have been there, but it wasn't their concern. She could handle a couple of old geezers who would be on their deathbeds soon enough. She wasn't a child. "I'm not afraid of them," she hissed at him, baring her teeth like a feline beast ready for the kill. The ferocity bled from her expression, and she settled back into her mild countenance, "There's nothing that they can do to get to me. Not legally."
"They can try to take you away again!" Takashi harshly whispered at her. He was leaning forward, now, hands folded tightly between them, breathing heavily as if it took all his self restraint not to smash his fists into the closest surface. A shred of sympathy and remorse seeped into her heart at the panic in his stormy eyes.
"They wouldn't dare," she assured him quietly. "Who in their right minds would challenge the Ootoris like that?" The present was nothing like that time when her grandparents swooped in at the opportunity to have another Akina, one they could actually control. The custody battle that followed Yuudai's death was only hidden to the world thanks to Yuzuha and Yoshio's determination to preserve Akina's memory. If the Matsura's got a hold of her daughter, Akina would have died a second time over.
Hanako held his gaze in the silence that followed. His anger melted away as his eyes dragged over her body. Her face didn't change, but he could see the slight tremble in her lower lip as she tried to save face. Her hands were balled into fists on her knees, wrinkling the black fabric between her fingers. The traces of her fear were just barely perceptible, but he spent enough time watching her that he could always tell.
Takashi reached out and placed his palm on to one of her fists. The rough callouses scratched her soft skin lightly. She was cold against his warm hand, but he didn't care because it was the most contact he had shared with her in two years. She blinked twice, as if she was waking up slowly, and her lashes fluttered when she looked down to their interlocked hands. He tightened his hold on her and waited for the moment when she would pull away, but she didn't. Instead, she accepted the quiet, steady comfort that Takashi offered, and they remained like that the entire drive to the Ootori cottage.
The car pulled up to the spatious cottage nestled between green forests and stopped right in front of the sophisticated doors. Hanako broke the silence between them with something between a plea and a demand, "Don't tell Kyoya what happened earlier, Takashi." She had not lifted her eyes back to his face, and he couldn't decipher her expression with her gaze lowered like that. Saying nothing, he let go of her hand, and his palm suddenly felt too empty and too cold as she got out of the car.
He watched her back as she walked up the marble steps to the Ootori's door. Beside him, Mitsukuni opened his eyes, and it was clear that the blond prodigy had not slept through the entirety of the drive.
"Are you going to tell Kyo-chan?" Mitsukuni voiced the same question rattling through Takashi's brain. Was he?
{OR}
A/N... Hello, again! I'm sorry this took so long! I moved and started working and writer's block and editing future chapter plans T.T
Please let me know what you think of this chapter! Thank you to Einklley, Florecita, Momochan77, KuroBad, xmichikox, purplekittycatofthemoon, anon, TheMaximumExperience, and Sapphire12985 for your feedback! You guys really helped me get out of my plot funk :)
Do you think Mori's going to tell Kyoya?
Next time: A Dose of Jealousy... Kaoru plays matchmaker
P.S. I'm going to write something of an omake/short chapter for you guys because 1) I want to share some more Author Notes 2) something outside of the plot that keeps with true manga/anime/otome game fashion sounds fun however I will take it down as soon as I put up the next real chapter and post it as a separate story when the next chapter is published.